Not only did the Eastern Michigan women’s track and field team clinch the Mid-American Conference title last month, but it did so in style led by sophomore sprinter Ashlee Abraham.
Abraham broke the record for fastest 60-meter dash in a MAC title meet, removing Ball State’s Latasha Jenkins from the first place spot in the record book after 12 years.
Abraham is from Southfield and attended Renaissance High School in Detroit. During her high school career, Abraham accumulated many awards while running for the track and field team all four years.
She is a two-time winner of the Detroit Old Times athlete award, as well as an all-state, all-regional and all-city athlete. She was also an honor roll student and letter-winner at Renaissance. During her freshman and sophomore year, Abraham placed third and first in the 200-meter sprints. A scary moment came in her junior year in high school when Abraham suffered a sprained right knee.
“It was about four days before the meet, and I was just finishing a small workout and was cooling down,” Abraham said. “All of the sudden, while I was jogging, I stepped in a hole in the ground and I heard my knee make a weird noise, and it did something strange. I fell to the ground and the next thing I know, my knee was the size of a watermelon.”
Because the state championships were so soon, Abraham had reason to panic. But when a trainer checked her out, she was assured the injury wasn’t as bad as it looked.
“She told me to rest it and ice it, and then I could run [in the meet],” Abraham said. “I seriously didn’t think I would be able to run in four days. I’ve sprained my knee before, but that time it looked pretty bad. In the end, I rested, iced it and still ran somehow.”
No serious damage was done, and after a lot of icing and wearing a brace, she was able to compete in the meet and finished third. Her senior year, she won the 100 and 200 and also was part of a first-place 4×100 relay.
As for her career at EMU, Abraham runs indoors and outdoors.
In her first indoor collegiate race in 2010, Abraham posted a 60 dash time of 7.57 to win first place at the EMU open and also ran a 26.21 200 dash to finish fourth. On the outdoor track last year, Abraham competed in four sprint events. She ran the leadoff leg of the 4×100 relay squad that finished first at MAC Championships. Abraham also ran the opening leg of the 1,600 sprint medley relay team that finished first in its heat. At an NCAA East regional qualifier, Abraham posted a time of 11.90 in the 100 in the prelims.
In the 2010 MAC Championships, Abraham had a second-place finish in the 60 after tying teammate ReJeana Marigna with a time of 7.51, a season-best.
This year the Eagles left the MAC championships in Bowling Green with the title, taking it for the first time in 12 years. Abraham wasn’t expecting to break the record, or even win the race, because her average time was slower than what she ran.
“At the beginning of the race, all I was telling myself was ‘Go go go!’ and when I crossed the line and looked at the time board and I saw my time of 7.37 seconds,” Abraham said. “I jumped in the air and screamed because I was so happy, and my teammates ran to me and hugged me.”
Later, as Abraham was cooling down, it was announced she had broken the MAC record for the 60-meter race. In the second day of competition, the Eagles totaled 90 points, scoring more than runner-up Western Michigan had for the entire meet. EMU finished with 118 in two days for the indoor event.
Sue Parks, who is in her fifth year as coach of the team, said about Abraham’s performance: “She performed spectacularly. We knew what she could do in the 60-meter – she’s been pretty dominant in that race all season long. Her time exceeded expectations.”
Besides Abraham’s record-breaking run, she also won the 200.
“She wasn’t the top seed in the [200-meter] race,” Parks said. “But we knew she had a chance at winning and she was able to come through and get the double win, and any time when you can win two races in a conference meet, it’s pretty spectacular.”
Knowing Abraham as a person is a great plus for the coach.
“She’s really fun to be around,” Parks said. “She’s a very hard worker, and definitely a team player – she wants to win for the team and she wants to do well for herself, and that’s the kind of qualities you see in a great athlete.”
Off the track, Abraham is majoring in sports medicine and exercise science. In her spare time, Abraham likes to run, dance, read and relax and be with friends.
After college, Abraham plans to apply her studies and major to become a physical therapist.
The Eagles now will prepare for the outdoor meets that are set to start Friday at Raleigh, N.C.
